• Kaua‘i still needs an oncologist • Ke Ala Hoku training was a success • Simple truth: illegal is illegal Kaua‘i still needs an oncologist I am very concerned about the fact that we do not have a full-time oncologist
• Kaua‘i still needs an oncologist
• Ke Ala Hoku training was a success
• Simple truth: illegal is illegal
Kaua‘i still needs an oncologist
I am very concerned about the fact that we do not have a full-time oncologist on this island. We do have three doctors coming regularly from O‘ahu, but they are not here full time. With the number of cancer patients on Kaua‘i, there is probably enough work for two full-time doctors; however, we would be happy with one doctor.
What is the problem? Someone at Kauai Medical must have the answers and the ability to correct this situation.
I have friends who must go to O‘ahu for chemotherapy because the patient load for our visiting doctors is so heavy. I was one of the lucky patients able to finish my treatment before Dr. Inouye left. Now my appointments are with the visiting oncologist. My appointments are frequently rescheduled because of the heavy workload experienced by these visiting doctors.
They are dedicated and do their best for us,and I appreciate their willingness to travel, but we need our own full time oncologist on Kaua‘i. Mahalo
Carol West
Kilauea
Ke Ala Hoku training was a success
This past weekend Ke Ala Hoku successfully completed its second volunteer training with over 30 participants, generously sponsored by the county. I want to especially thank some of our ho‘okele, our clients, who graciously participated in the training by sharing their personal stories of addiction and healing: Larry Asai, Ronette Burk, Dennis Duarte, Sandy Kiilau, Cherylann Lemalu, and David Otoman. Their courage and honesty are inspiring. Here is just one example of what one person shared:
“I was born an alcoholic infant. At birth I was introduced to alcohol. As I grew older I was surrounded by alcohol abuse, physical, mentally, and sexual. At age 9, I was sexually molested and after that I started using alcohol to make me feel good. From drinking it led to marijuana, cocaine, acid, and ended with crystal meth. My life was a dark place and that’s how I wanted it to be. Party was the way I found happiness and peace.
“Today I have a better outlook and understanding of life. Through my programs and support towards a clean and sober life has opened a lot of new doors for me and my children. I have reunited with my children and have a great relationship with them. I have accomplished some goals which I have never done before.
“I can say that my life now has showed me that I am a good person and need a place to set my feet so I can be found within myself. I am a very happy person today and wouldn’t give it up for anything or anyone.”
I also wanted to thank our Advisory Board volunteers for their willingness to support and guide this program this past year and a half: Rev. Nani Hill, chair, Sarah Shiraki, Nancy Golden, Kathy Kitamura, Ron Clark, Vicki Kelley, Hokulani Shiningstar, Joann Nakashima, Bob Gilmore, Rev. Jeannie Thompson, Rev. Chris Schwab, and former board members Gwen Hamabata, Shan Hammond, and Rev. Caroline Miura.
Without the vision from the Kaua‘i Association of the United Church of Christ and the generous financial support initially from the Vidinha Foundation Charitable Trust and G.N. Wilcox Family Trust, we could not have made a difference in some 65 individuals’ lives and another almost 70 children being part of the reunification process with their parents. More recently we are thankful to Sen. Gary Hooser, and Representitives Ronald Sagum, Mina Morita, and Jimmy Tokioka for monies given from the state’s GIA program. We are also grateful for the partnering agencies who have collaborated with us: CFS, KCCC, Intake Services, Public Safety, Drug Court, Adult Probation, CPS, the County, and other faith-based institutions.
I want to personally invite everyone to our next event which will be Sept. 8, our Grandparents Day fundraiser celebration honoring our island’s kupuna while educating the public more about what we do and how others can get involved.
Ke Ala Hoku’s mission to provide a community and interfaith based integration partnership for individuals to reunify with their Kaua‘i families and communities following incarceration related to substance abuse or following substance abuse treatment.
See you Sept. 8! Mahalo,
Rebekah Reid
Program Director
Simple truth: illegal is illegal
The truth is our islands, Hawai’i, were overthrown! By Americans of European descent. Some born in the kingdom of Hawai’i. Some looking for a fast pay off! Some for power and land and greed. Some in God’s name, even though He never knew them!
The seeds they sowed were all based on a racist non-native mindset! One of European American mindset. That if you kill the native, by killing his beliefs, his culture, his language, his history, his blood ties, his ali‘i, his hula, his warrior class, his artist, his ocean, his lo’i, you will create a lost race with no hope of justice.
The overthrow is illegal and every document placed upon this act is illegal, based on fraud and law! Fraud, the act of a lie, passed on and on to justify ancestral sin or a deed. The ali‘i did not sell the lands as some would believe but were coerded by European wonder? Debauchery which some tried to become like. They did not understand the curse of these newcomers or their ways or their value system.
From the letters to the Forum everyone thinks haole is racist. Tell that to all the kanaka who died of mumps, measles, small pox, Hanson’s disease, fevers, lung disease, V.D. etc. that the Europeans/Americans brought in to kill the native Hawaiian. Not by chance. The great time of sorrows: 1800s. Now the word “haole” is not racist. There are no swear words in the Hawaiian language. Not one! To ho‘o ha‘ole is to ape like a white man, to copy his ways, to become as one in mind, culture, ways, beliefs or in action, without breath of life, a void mindset of loss to one’s blood ties, culture, history etc. turning his back on who he is by koko.
I know Uncle Kimokeo. He is an upright native Hawaiian from Koloa, a friend of my ‘ohana, an elder who grew up when to be Hawaiian was a sin; just like my mother. To speak Hawaiian could get you whipped, when everything Hawaiian was considered evil. You would not be taught that our island nation was stolen or overthrown, or that the plantations were involved; that their descendants have prospered by an illegal act. Why? But when my mother served in the army she could not use the white bathrooms.
But yet to say haole we are labeled racist. A mindset of foreigners. I have many haole friends who can’t stand the people moving to Hawai‘i, because the color of the heart is void, darkness, exploitation, fast money, land deals, greed and debauchery.
Yet they come even when not invited! The truth is simple: Stop lying, stealing ad using what’s not yours. Illegal is still illegal.
Kawika Cutcher
Anahola
